St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-01-29
THE SLACK BEAR.

A L vi bsHCpFe
o,ls Than Most Sportsmen Claim.
There have been told so many stories
about the lerrible ferocty of the conn
mon black bear and the great danger
attendant upon huntingt he ''varmint'
that | can not help thinking that Il few
facts regarding this animal would be
acceptable to your rea,.'ers. The kind
ofbears that inhabit New DIRK, Chicago,
and other large cities and are hunted
Con paper) by fancy sportsmen may be
aWfully savage beasts, but the black
bear of Arkansas and the Southwest
generally is, as is we'll known to all old
hunters, the most timid and cowardly
brute, in proportion to his size and
strength, that roams the woods. In an
experience covering many years Of
stlll-huntlng i'll q country where
1.-The woods are full of EN- [
have never seen but two bears
that were not either on dead run to
get away OF were being baycd or freed
by dogs. One Of these was ''lapping''
in the early spring.. e., up Il tree
gathering and eating the buds and ten
der shoots. The other was turning over
and tearing to pieces an old log to get
the worms and bugs to be found in the
rotten wood. for, be it known. even
"ursa maiorH does not dSdain to break
fast on grUbs and anglc-WormS when
fat shoats and wild honey get scarce.
In fact, he will eat almost any thing,
animal or vegetable, fresh OF putrid,
that a hog will eat, but the hog, if
male and half wild, is by far the more
dangerous beast of the two; for the
hog. if irritated by dogs, will boldly at
tack man or beast, and fight desperate-
" to the death, but Nh Bear on such
occasions deEoteS all his energies to the
effort to get away, and will show fight
only when hemmed and abso-
lutely driven to the wall. This
is my own experience, and it is also that
of every other old bear-huntcr with
whom | have ever talked. | ha%r vet
to hear of an authenticated instance in
this country (Arkansas) OF bear
voluntarily attacking a man. Their
senses of hearing and smell are 50 acute
and their instructive fear Of man so
great that the hunter rarely ever gets
even sight of one in the woods except
when bayed, freed or engaged in a rum
ming fight with dogs. Unless the bear
is very fat it takes frst-cIass pack Of
well-trained dogs to stop him and keep
him in one place long enough for the
hunter 10 get up within shooting Iii s.
tance. On the other hand, if he is very
fat he is apt to be too short-windcd to
run far, and almost any common cur or
flee that has speed enough to keep up
and grit enough TO nip him on the hams
can soon put him up
tree.
''Cut1ee." as he is Familiarity known
here, is also very fond of green corn,
and III the latter part of July, when
are in season, he takes his
toll from adjacent corn-felds without
stint. He usually tears down and de-
stroys a great deal more than he can
eat, and for this reason the farmers
frequently lie in wait for him. He al
ways comes at night and has particu-
lar place to enter and another at which
10 leave the field. These are easily as
certained by his tracks, and the plan is
10 go out about nine p. m. on a night
when there is little or no wind stirring,
sit down in the corn near the usual
place of entrance, and wait until
lie comes in and gets close enough
o see him plainly; then shoot.
It is rarely worth while to wait
onger than twelve o'clock. for if cuffee
S not there by midnight it is pretty
certain that he has gone to some other
ield. In fact, this is the principal diff
,ulty about killing bears in this way,
or bruin is quite cunning, and rarely
lists the same field twice in succession,
% that unless the cornfelds are few
md the bears in the eighborhood very
numerous the lonely watcher may have
o wait number of nights for shot.
say lonely watcher because it is ale
most absolutely necessary to be alone.
the wait happens to be long one
Wo persons can not keep from talking,
nd a bear carries his cars about to
lear with and not for ornament. Be-
ides, the probability of being winded
always the weak point in this style
Il hunting-is doubled, and the chances
or shot diminished correspondingly.
70 little is cutfee feared by those who
re familiar with him that | have
nown boys of eighteen years, armed
With no better weapon than small
ore muzzle-loading squirrel rifle, to sit
n the dark for hours, alone and half a
nile or more from the house, waiting
Or shot, and then, when the chance
anne, to sit still as death until the bear
OF ithin ainht on. ton foot Losa.,a s,.:..s.